How to Drain an Abscess at Home Safely
Key takeaways:
An abscess can occur anywhere in the body. A bacterial infection — usually Staphylococcus aureus (staph) — is the most common cause.
Many times you can treat an abscess at home with warm compresses, pressure, and proper wound care.
You may need to get medical care if your abscess isn’t getting better. Signs of a worsening abscess are redness, continued increase in size, or a fever.
Table of contents
An abscess is a collection of pus just underneath the surface of the skin. Sometimes it can form deeper in the fatty layer of skin. It typically shows up as a painful lump, and it usually needs some form of treatment.
An abscess can be a real pain, literally. And it can be hard to know what to do when you notice one. In many cases, you can manage it at home. But there are some telltale signs that it’s time to get medical attention to treat an abscess.
Can you drain an abscess at home?
It’s absolutely possible to drain an abscess at home. The smaller it is, the easier it will be to drain and manage.
Dos
Here are some steps you can follow to drain an abscess at home:
Prepare with warm compresses. You can do this 4 times a day for 20 minutes. This will prepare the abscess area for drainage.
Apply pressure. Once you can see pus at the surface of the abscess, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water. You can then apply gentle, manual pressure to drain the pus. Be sure to keep the area clean afterward.
Use specialized dressings. Apply dressings like hydrocolloid patches. These can help your abscess drain and heal faster.
You can try soaking your abscess in an Epsom salt bath. While this remedy has been used for centuries and many people swear by it, there’s not a lot of evidence to prove that it works. It probably won’t hurt though.
Spreading skin infections: Skin infections can spread and cause cellulitis. Here’s how to tell when you need medical care.
When to worry about spider bites: Some spider bites can cause skin infections and abscesses. These pictures can help you know when to get treatment.
Not all abscesses are what they seem. Hidradenitis suppurativa is a skin condition that causes recurrent painful lumps deep in the skin. One woman shares her journey to diagnosis.
Don’ts
There are some things you shouldn’t do when attempting to treat an abscess at home.
Avoid covering the area with ointments or oils. Since abscesses are trapped under a layer of skin, any products you apply to the skin won’t get into the infected abscess. And worse, covering the abscess with ointments or oils can prevent the abscess from draining and healing.
Don’t stick sharp objects into your abscess. This can worsen your infection. If your abscess won’t open and drain on its own, you’ll need the help of a healthcare professional to open it.
Don’t attempt to drain multiple abscesses at the same time. It’s often too painful to drain them all at once.
What is an abscess, and what causes one?
Abscesses are collections of pus. Put another way, an abscess is an infected pocket of fluid in the body.
Read more like this
Explore these related articles, suggested for readers like you.
What makes abscesses different from any other infection is that the infected fluid (pus) is walled off from the surrounding tissues and the body’s blood supply. This matters because the immune system fights infections through white blood cells, or with the help of antibiotics. And, white blood cells and antibiotics are transported through the bloodstream to reach the infection.
So, because an abscess is walled off from the bloodstream, it’s much harder to treat than other infections.
Skin abscesses are the most common. But it’s possible to get an abscess almost anywhere in the body, including:
Teeth
Back
Arms
Legs
Face
Genitals
Brain
Lung
Liver
Kidneys
Abscesses can be small and relatively mild, or they can be large and make you very unwell.
Causes
The most common cause of an abscess is a break in the skin (like a shaving cut, or an insect bite) that allows bacteria to enter the body. The most common bacteria to form an abscess is Staphylococcus aureus (staph), a bacteria commonly found on the skin.
Risk factors
Anyone can get an abscess, but some people are more prone than others. Factors that increase the risk of an abscess include:
Underlying skin inflammation, like eczema or psoriasis
Skin swelling, called edema
Medical conditions that weaken the immune system, like diabetes, HIV, conditions that require you to take immunosuppressant medications
Peripheral vascular disease (poor blood flow)
Skin infections like chickenpox or athlete’s foot
Intravenous (IV) substance abuse
Close contact with others who have staph skin infection
What does an abscess look like?
A skin abscess appears as a swollen, warm, and tender bump. In fairer skin, the surface of the abscess usually looks red or purple. In darker skin tones, it can look dark red or brown, but you may not notice a color change at all. You may see pus.
How do you tell if an abscess is healing?
Because abscesses are both visible and painful, this makes it easy to know when they’re getting better. You can tell if your abscess is healing if it:
Gets smaller
Looks better
Feels better
On the other hand, if you notice your abscess growing in size or becoming more painful, then that’s a sure sign things are getting worse.
Usually, abscesses start to look and feel better immediately after they’ve been drained. A flat, painless abscess is a great sign that your abscess is getting better.
Sometimes it can be hard to tell if an abscess is growing or shrinking from one day to the next, so it’s helpful to take pictures. If you take a picture of your abscess once a day, you can compare the pictures over time to make sure your abscess is healing.
When should you get medical care for an abscess?
Most abscesses need to be drained. But if you catch an abscess when it’s still small, treating it with antibiotics alone might be possible. You should always be prepared to contact a medical professional for help.
Here are signs that you may need to get treatment:
Your abscess doesn’t respond to home care and continues to grow.
It has been more than 1 week, and it’s not getting better on its own.
The skin around the abscess is red and inflamed or showing signs of infection (cellulitis).
You have symptoms of a spreading infection — such as fever, chills, or fast heart rate.
You have multiple or recurrent abscesses.
Incision and drainage (I&D)
If your medical care team decides they need to drain your abscess, you’ll likely need an incision and drainage. This is usually a small, in-office procedure. Your skin is numbed with an injection, and a doctor (or another trained health professional like a PA or NP) uses a scalpel (blade) to cut open and drain the abscess.
Sometimes, an I&D is enough to treat the abscess. But, there are situations where your healthcare professional may prescribe antibiotics. This usually depends on the complexity of the abscess. This includes:
Size
Location
Multiple pus pockets
Presence of significant cellulitis
How do you treat an abscess after it’s drained?
Whether you drain your abscess at home or a healthcare professional drains it in their office, you’ll have to care for it. Key steps include keeping the wound clean, dry, and covered with clean gauze. Until it’s fully healed, don’t go swimming or soak the affected area under water.
You should also change the dressing at least once or twice a day. And don’t forget, it’s important to wash your hands thoroughly before and after dressing changes to keep the area clean.
Why do I keep getting abscesses?
If you’re having recurrent abscesses, you’ll need to make an appointment to see your primary care provider. They’ll want to find out why this is happening. Many conditions can cause recurrent abscesses, including:
Improper shaving techniques: You are more likely to cause irritation, infection, and skin abscesses if you don’t shave properly. Improper shaving techniques include not exfoliating before shaving, using a single blade and new razor each time, and shaving against the direction of hair growth.
Hidradenitis suppurativa: This is a condition that mimics a simple abscess. It can cause inflammation of the hair follicles that lead to an abscess.
MRSA (methicillin-resistant staph aureus) bacteria: It’s possible you may be carrying MRSA on your skin. Your doctor’s office can test for this using a nasal swab. If you have MRSA, they’ll prescribe antibiotics to help get rid of the bacteria.
Weakened immune system: Conditions like diabetes, HIV, cancer, and many medications that suppress the immune system can put you at risk for frequent infections.
Frequently asked questions
The best way to draw pus out of an abscess is to physically remove it. If you see pus coming out of the abscess on its own, you can help get more out by gently squeezing the area around it.
If you don’t see any pus coming out of the abscess on its own, you’ll need a healthcare professional to drain the abscess with a scalpel.
Other techniques to draw pus out of an abscess, like Epsom salt baths, haven’t been proven to be effective.
The short answer is no. You should never use a needle to drain an abscess. This is because you risk introducing more infection to the area by doing so. When a medical professional drains an abscess, they usually use a scalpel, not a syringe. This is because the walls of an abscess and the pus inside are usually thick. Abscesses can also have multiple pockets of pus within them, so one needle won’t be able to drain the whole abscess (and could make things worse).
Many times, an abscess is a “simple abscess.” This means it’s a single pus pocket that just needs to be drained, without an associated skin infection. A simple abscess is not considered serious or an emergency.
But sometimes, an abscess can get larger, deeper, or cause a serious infection in the bloodstream. This can make you very unwell unless you get urgent medical treatment in the hospital and usually, intravenous antibiotics (through an IV).
The bottom line
In most cases, an abscess is not a serious condition. In fact, sometimes you can drain it at home with some warm compresses and gentle pressure. But, it’s important to get medical attention if an abscess doesn’t improve with treatment. That’s because you may need a small surgical procedure to drain it, or treatment with antibiotics if you are at risk of a serious infection.
Let your medical care team know if you have an abscess that isn’t getting better. Based on your medical history, they can develop a treatment plan that’s right for you.
Why trust our experts?
Images used with permission from VisualDx (www.visualdx.com).
References
Baiu, I., et al. (2018). Skin abscess. Journal of the American Medical Association.
Cheng, A. G., et al. (2012). A play in four acts: Staphylococcus aureus abscess formation. Trends in Microbiology.
MedlinePlus. (2016). Abscess.
Ramakrishnan, K., et al. (2015). Skin and soft tissue infections. American Family Physician.
Thams, S. (2008). Hydrocolloid dressings in the management of acute wounds: A review of the literature. International Wound Journal.
